One of the new “games” to play in reputation management is to suggest your business is in some way friendly to the environment. An increasing percentage of the population believes you run a better business if it is more sustainable and “green”. In this, there’s actually an ironic benefit. Insurance companies also believe you should run your business in ways that reduce risk. This means keeping all your policies, processes and procedures under review to ensure they are safe. If you find ways to reduce the risk of claims, the insurer will respond with discounts. So, for example, your business may benefit if both the public access and the employee-only parts of your premises are redesigned in a more environmentally friendly way. If you use paint that does not fume and has reduced levels of toxicity, this reduces any risk of allergic reactions and illnesses.

Using natural light wherever possible, fitting LED lights and generally using power-efficient equipment reduces heat and the risk of fire. It also makes the premises more comfortable and popular with customers. Ask your insurer whether there are incentives to upgrade the building by fitting energy-efficient systems. If you comply with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, the Insurance Information Institute reports that, as from 2010, there are more than twenty insurers offering up to 10% discount on premium rates. One of the factors you might want to consider is the use of solar or wind power. Ignoring the capital cost to produce enough electricity to allow you to “go off the grid”, one of the main worries is the risk of outages. Some insurers are now offering specialized business interruption coverage to boost confidence.

When it comes to the vehicles used in the business, some of the commercial auto insurers offer discounts if you buy or lease hybrids. Even though you may not be impressed by the claimed threats of global warming or climate change, the insurance industry is firmly on the side of reducing emissions. The better the fuel-economy of your fleet, the lower the premium rates are likely to be. Similarly, the idea of pay-as-you-go will both save you money on the premium rates if you reduce milage to the absolute minimum and persuade your employees to drive more safely. The more safely and efficiently you run the fleet, the lower the premium payments. It also makes an excellent add-on to your marketing to show how much you care about the environment and that you are committed to reducing America’s dependence on imported oil. If you build environmental factors into your current risk management system, there’s a real chance of improving your bottom line, negotiating discounts on your business insurance rates, and giving yourself some marketing copy that will enhance your reputation with green customers. In this instance, there’s no reason why your skepticism about climate issues and other environmental factors should stand in the way of improved profits. Talk this through your your business insurance advisor to find out what your state’s insurance industry has on offer if you do decide to become more eco-friendly.

It’s a tired way to start a modern article by referring to the speed with which the world has been revolutionized by the computer but, in this instance, it’s highly appropriate. When the first green shoots emerged in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, computerization was all about automating in-house processes like the accounting system. The software to replace labor was still a few years ago. But, once it arrived, two things happened. The employers cut their costs and improved their profits by terminating the employment of tens of thousands. Second, by removing many of the people who used to deal with customers, the businesses began a slow decline in the quality of the services they provided. Today, corporations hide behind call centers and e-mail systems, rarely providing real people we can talk through our problems with.

Instead of using the Internet and automated systems as a smokescreen to suggest a reasonable quality of service, the new technology should be used to improve the customer experience. At some point, the quality of this aspect of service will come back into focus as a way of distinguishing between faceless corporations. Take the world of car insurance as an example of what can be done. If your vehicle is involved in an accident, what you want is a smooth system for handling your claim. This involves the minimum fuss in submitting the claim online, the identification of suitable bodyshops for performing the repairs, getting quotes with the least delay, and agreeing which bodyshop will actually do the repairs. All this administration needs to be fast because, if your vehicle is off the road, there are storage charges mounting up and rental charges for a substitute vehicle. Multiply this across all the policyholders and the cost to the insurers is higher than it needs to be. If this loss is controlled, premium rates can be stabilized if not reduced. It’s good for all.

That’s why it’s important to support a new website and mobile app for Android and the iPhone that will improve the current situation. They allow you to upload photographs of the damage using your cell phone or hand-held device with a camera, and circulate those pictures to bodyshops approved by your insurer near to where you live. The repair shops keep the site updated on whether they have spare capacity and offer an estimate of the cost of repairs within 24 hours. Because the site works with insurers to limit the list of repairshops to those preapproved by the insurers, there’s a minimum of delay in processing the claim and costs are kept to a minimum. At present, this is still at a beta stage with five insurance companies in a limited number of states. But, assuming the trial is a success, we could see this rolled out across the country. If it genuinely does reduce administrative delays and associated costs, we will see stable car insurance rates. It may not be the cheap car insurance we all want to see, but it’s a good step in the right direction. It should also act as a wake-up call to the other slumbering giants on both sides of the fence. There are creative software people and insurance companies who would benefit the customer by getting together.

One of the hardest groups to get affordable insurance for is student drivers, particularly teenagers. You can be a student driver at any age but the older you are, the less of a risk you are to insurance companies. So while your premium costs will be high since you are a new driver, they will not be as high as those for new teenage drivers. Lower policy rates for student drivers are achievable if the following conditions are met.

Complete Driver Education Classes

Most insurance companies will not even consider insuring a teenage driver who has not taken and successfully completed an approved driver education class. These classes include instruction on driving laws as well as hands-on driving lessons. There are different levels of driver education. Most students complete the basic level. But insurance companies prefer the advanced level because it includes instruction on defensive driving, bad weather driving, and how to avoid a crash. Insurance companies offer deeper discounts for this advanced instruction with the expectation that teenagers will be better drivers.

Drive a Safe Car

New drivers want the coolest car on the block. But to get a discount on their insurance, they need the safest car available. When calculating rates, insurance companies consider the type of vehicle teenagers will be driving and the cost associated with repairs or replacement if the teenager is involved in an accident. Do not skimp on safety to get a lower rate – teenagers need a safe car more than they need to save a few bucks on their insurance costs.

Achieve Good Grades in School

Just about all insurance providers have “good student” discount programs that allow students to submit their report cards to receive a reduction in premiums. The thought behind this is that if teens can work hard enough to make good grades, they will probably be just as diligent with their driving.

Establish Credit

Teens may be able to get a small department store credit card that their parents co-sign for so they can establish personal credit. Again, auto insurance companies correlate the teen’s ability to manage their credit with their driving ability and will lower rates for those teen’s who establish personal credit.

This article examines ways student drivers, especially teenagers, can get discounts on auto insurance coverage. By meeting certain criteria, student drivers can obtain affordable auto insurance that offers quality coverage in case of an accident.

If you ask a Libertarian for an opinion on people who hold their hands out for federal government or state aid, the printable version of the reply is likely to refer to such people as scroungers who should pay their own way through the hard times. The Tea Party is also hot on the subject, asserting the perils of Big Government. If it’s too quick to step in to help citizens in trouble, why should those citizens take any precautions. They can just sit back with their hands out and, sooner or later, the Government will put some money in it. Everyone on the right points to the private insurance industry and pushes the notion everyone should pay for cover and never be allowed to rely on tax dollars for support. There’s a slight change of tone when a disaster hits the home of a Libertarian. Then there’s criticism of the slowness of the response by federal government. Such is life for the flip-floppers.

For the more rational members of the community, there’s no such thing as too much help if there’s a disaster. The more Government or state aid, the more quickly the community can be put back on its feet. This help should not just look at the big picture of repairing roads and bridges so people can move around again. It also comes down to the individual level for those most in need. Not surprisingly, the federal government recognizes there are whole swathes of the population who either cannot afford health insurance or will end up underinsured – this includes those who think they are lucky enough never to be affected by a natural disaster. This brings us to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This federal agency has the responsibility for coordinating the response to any disaster. It can be man-made like an explosion at a nuclear power plant, an erupting volcano, or a hurricane producing a major storm surge. If the scale of the resulting disaster is more than a state can reasonably be expected to deal with on its own, FEMA steps in to offer its expertise.

This includes its Individual Assistance Program, designed to help those who are uninsured or underinsured. This aims to offer practical help to move home contents into storage, provide temporary housing while reconstruction work continues, and cover the cost of any medical treatment for injuries sustained in the disaster. Note you cannot claim twice under an existing policy and then under the FEMA program. If there’s overlapping cover, you have to decide which one to claim against. But if your cover is not going to be accessible because you cannot afford the high deductible or because you were underinsured in any event, the FEMA program will help bridge the gap. Indeed, the FEMA program can be the difference between having nothing and having some clothes to wear and somewhere to live while the situation is stabilized.

If you live in an area which is prone to flooding or seems to be getting more than its fair share of catastrophic weather events, you should look at the FEMA Individual Assistance Program. It may not be a substitute for conventional homeowners insurance quotes from a private insurer, but you should know what additional help is available when you getting your next homeowners insurance quotes.

In the days when life was simple and there were few risks, the insurance industry was profitable and able to offer a reasonably good service to its customers. But now the world is more complicated, there are real challenges for the insurers. If you look at the market for insuring vehicles, you can see the extent of the change. Back in the 1950′s, there were not that many people on the roads but, thanks to the arrival of the Boomers, the number of drivers increased dramatically and car ownership expanded. Millions of new vehicles came on to the roads. With all the extra vehicles, the chances of being involved in an accident increased. As more people had access to credit, they were buying new vehicles which were more expensive to repair or replace. The cost of labor to do all the repairs was also rising fast. Put all this together and you have a recipe for rapidly rising premium rates.

Apart from accepting a higher deductible, the main way of earning a discount with an insurer has always been to give the insurer more business. So, if your family owns three vehicles, you insure all three with the same company. If you also insure your home, want to cover your health costs or insure your life, a bundle has always been rewarded with sometimes quite substantial savings. But, here comes the problem. While insuring vehicles has consistently remained profitable, homeowners insurance has become increasingly challenging. Even though the US is one of the countries refusing any action on climate change in the current round of talks in Durban, the US insurance industry has recognized a major change in weather patterns over the last twenty years. That’s why you will now find it very difficult to get flooding coverage if you live anywhere near where the water level is known to rise, why hurricane damage is being defined to make it more difficult for you to claim, and why sinkhole, mudslide and earthquake coverage is getting more difficult in the areas at risk, i.e. the land drying out or being affected by more than the usual amount of rain.

In the past, companies would cross-subsidize, treating their profit on vehicle insurance as support for the other divisions. That’s no longer an option. The premium rates have been forced to rise faster than inflation because of the increasing levels of fraud and the rising costs of repairs. There comes a point when the other insurance divisions of home, health and life have to become more profitable. Allstate’s answer is to make it a condition of buying homeowners insurance that owners also buy vehicle insurance. The regulator in North Carolina has just allowed Allstate to drop 45,000 existing policyholders who refused to transfer their vehicle insurance. The same is happening in Arkansas. In most states, it’s lawful for insurers to give just 30 days notice of its intention not to renew. So here’s the big question for you. How will you react if you get a letter from an insurer threatening not to renew your homeowners policy unless you bundle cover together? Will this trigger a rush to other insurers who offer unconditional auto insurance quotes? Ironically, it may force you to discover other companies actually have lower car insurance rates.